Planning ideas for music videos and song ideas

Originally, our first idea for a music video was to go with a young female artist, as we felt that women Indy songs tend to be very sincere, and emotional, something that would allow us to present a very sensitive, compelling and expressive narrative.

We wanted our target audience to be completely captured by our video, even if the song itself did not have too fast a pace. We wanted to create a breathtaking video that didn't focus too much on clever cinematography, but had a simple, yet effective storyline that people may be able to relate with to some extent. however once looking through all the possibilities from female artists, and asking who would volunteer to be the star in our music video, we realised that this idea would be hard to get off the ground in the first place.

It was at this point that we then decided to change our idea, and go with a male Indy artist, and try to use a little more power to bring across emotion, rather than just being soft and subtle to try and create a delicate and sensitive atmosphere about the video. We started by looking at James Morrison, however we felt his most effective song would not be viable, as it featured Nelly Furtado, and we still did not have a girl volunteer, that would be willing to 'perform'.

We then decided to look at James Arthur, especially as he appeared to be one of the most popular X Factor contestants in the many years of the shows existence. We looked at the song 'Impossible' by Shontelle when looking at female artist songs, however we felt that James Arthur's version worked so well, as he did bring the element of power to it with his unique voice, and with a dramatic last chorus, we felt this provided us with the perfect build up in which we could possibly ruin the equilibrium which we would have set within our music video.

So with this being set, we then decided that our narrative should be about a relationship that starts to fail, as we felt that this would be an easy way in which to represent a disequilibrium. We felt that this would also correlate with the character of the song, as it builds to a a spectacular emotion-filled end that works perfectly with our original narrative idea.

Group Meetings

Our first meeting allowed us to discuss the different factors which would make our music video. We started trying to gather a collection of ideas, to get an understanding of which direction we wanted to head in with our video.

Our initial thoughts, with 3 girls in the group, was to go with a girl artist, within the Indy genre. However after looking through multiple songs of these specifications, we realised that we could not agree on a song that would work on the basis that we wanted it to.

It was in our next meeting that we decided to change our initial plan, and go with a male artist within the indy genre. This therefore opened up our options to songs a little more than it did previously, and also it meant that there were a few volunteers to take on the role of the artist, as opposed to when using the idea of a girl, as no one wanted to be the performer.

After looking through the male artists within the Indy genre, it really came down to either James Morrison, Plan B, or James Arthur.
We then decided that we definitely wanted a buildup throughout the song, as we felt that this would allow us to make our narrative more dramatic, and also give it a creative final scene in which would epitomize the whole video. So all this considered, we decided to go with a song that hadn't long been out of the public eye. James Arthur only won the x Factor in 2012. We figured that we would use James Arthur's winners song, that he had recorded and released as a single. Although the song 'Impossible' already existed before, and this was only a cover of Shontelle's song, we felt that the song done by James was more effective and carried more emotion.

In the next meeting, we discussed what exactly our narrative could be. It was clear that we all agreed that given the intensity and the character of the song, we shoul;d definitely make the video about a love story, including some clever iconography, and some great settings.

With this being said, we all went away for the next few days to think about what content we could build our music video up with. We realised that we needed one stand out setting that could capture an audience's attention either due to it's sheer beauty, or just magnificence. We finalised our 'show' setting as the white cliffs of Dover. We felt with the view from/of the cliffs, and the sheer size of the cliffs, filming from the top of them would be a great performance setting, that could also represent the idea of isolation within the video.

So now we had our main setting sorted, we had to decide in which direction the 'love story' narrative was going to go, followed by what iconography could use in order to connote the story line. The best idea we agreed on was the pack of cards. The significance of these cards is that they are a simple enough prop, that can easily represent a relationship. The focus will be on the king of hearts, and queen of hearts cards, as this shows that it does connote the relationship, and are not simply just being put in to gain content in the narrative.

It was then later decided that our narrative would be about the couple getting worse throughout the video, and ended with them splitting up, which also helped represent the song and the performance parts well, as it shows that the relationship may have been 'impossible' and hence why the performer is now in isolated settings. This is where we realised we could utilise the idea of the cards very well, because as the relationship got worse, so could the 'card situation'. Once the arguing starts with the couple, showing that the relationship is going downhill, the cards could stay significant with the fact that we could either rip them, or just show them getting damaged. By the end of the video, the couple will have split, and with a dramatic chorus at the end of the song, this where we could use some clever cinematography, and burn a tower of cards in slow motion. This would show that 'all they had is gone' and would show that it is not repairable.





Since these meetings, and attempted filming, we have spoken again, and realised that the ideas we had were hard to film, as it was hard to organise some of these shots due to the complexity. Although we have the shots in Dover of performance, and also some in a black room, we feel they are effective enough to keep. We have changed our narrative to the idea of a homeless person, hooked on drugs, trying to seek salvation once finding a man that shows slight interest in her, rather than giving her the dirty looks that she seems to get from the rest of the public.

However, although she seems to want to know the male more, her longing for drugs is too strong, and she finds herself still hooked. We are not yet sure on the ending of this, but we have decided to start filming it, see how we feel the mood is going, and decide on the ending from there.

We filmed some of these scenes successfully, but felt that again, we were too optimistic of what we felt we could do with the video. We have now once again found ourselves struggling to complete this narrative, and film it efficiently.

We have spoken since struggling with the new scenes, and with the guidance of our teacher have decided that we should return to the old narrative basis, but change some of the complex ideas and iconography, and also change the star of the narrative, whilst keeping all the performance we have previously captured. We hope that this will be our most effective attempt yet, and that our editing will maybe help to enhance some of the more basic ideas, and progress them into something a little more complex.

History of Music Videos

Task 1

Firstly, one of the best ways in which people now consume music videos is through the use of 'Youtube'. Youtube is the biggest website that people share and watch all matter of videos on, helping anything go global within seconds. The websites videos are free to watch, creating a haven for many consumers, as they may not want to pay for the latest music video, therefore they can simply go on youtube, and watch it free of charge.

Another way that people are able to watch music videos is through the use of iTunes. This was created by Apple, and is the most used supplier for music/music video payed downloads. This however is where it falters to youtube. Users on iTunes do have to pay for each song or video they download, and therefore more and more people may turn to youtube as a free alternative.

Something that completely changed the face of music video consumption was the invention of the mp4 player. People had the chance to get used to the idea they could now listen to music on the go on a device called the mp3. However, after companies realised this was such a success, they then proceeded to create an mp4, which allowed people to not only listen to a mash up of all their favourite music, but also to view the music videos that went along with them.

The next revolution in music was an upgrade of the mp4 idea. Apple started their take over of the music industry with the iPod. The iPod came in many different forms, some designed to hold 40,000 songs, others designed to be small, and highly portable. But then there were some such as the nano, that were designed with the innovention to allow people to view music videos at high quality whilst on the move. The invention was groundbreaking, as although the foundations had been built with the idea of the mp4, Apple were already a solid producing company, with the funds and advertisement to really sell this product, and push the industry so much further.

Then of course, the biggest impact on the world of music videos came in 2005 when 'Youtube' was created. THIS was the definitive moment in which the music video industry changed. People would always tune into a music channel such as MTV or Kerrang!. This however limited people to certain genres of music, that did not necessarily branch out very far into the spectrum of music. People that for instance may have liked country or grunge may have then struggled to find any music videos available that fit their needs. Youtube allows people to search for videos with complete preference, therefore they only have to view what they wish.

Task 2

Music videos have changed a lot over recent times. Partially this is due to the rules and restrictions 'easing off' what content is allowed when making one. It appears that the components of a music video can be a lot more freely expressed in recent years. However this then also brings restricitions. It means witht the internet the way it is now, some music videos are restricted to certain ages, and you must have selected that you are 18+ to watch it.

This has been allowed to happen, as there are so many pathways in which music videos can be fed into the media, rules had to be made less strict, as it is hard to keep endorsing the same rules when there are so many more music vidfeos being produced each day. It is also known now that music videos are sometimes used as a way in which to sell a certain song due to the content within the video. When restrictions on music videos started to be less of a constraint, artists definitely tried using it as an advantage, by pushing videos to the limits, in order to promote their either bizzare/innappropriate image.

Something that has become clear when it comes to presenting music videos and making them popular is if they have a key symbol that represents it worl wide. For example, the most watched video on youtube is the North Korean sensation - Psy with his song 'Gangnam Style'. Psy has racked up 1.8 billion views on this hit youtube music video. It is known worldwide for its dance. With a website like youtube, it allowed Psy's 15 minutes of fame to earn him up to £200 million simply from anything 'Gangnam Style' related.

Technology and special effects has also increased throughout the music video industry, as many music videos are starting to be produced as small film clips. The amount of time and money that goes into the production of them now has increased tenfold from the 1960's. However, Michael Jackson's ' Scream ft. Janet Jackson. The production of this music video cost $7-$10 million dollars. It's release in 1995 has still never seen another music video use a bigger budget. It is mostly suggested people do not spend this amount, as artists other than MJ did not expect such a a return.

The reason this video was so expensive, was partially because Michael Jackson being the fanatic he is wanted the spaceship built completely. Not just the shell, or the interior within a studio, he wanted the whole design of the spaceship to be built.

Another reason the video was so expensive was because the special effects were way ahead of 1995. Videos that were usually created around this era did not have the picture quality of this music video, as it flows seemlessly with the effects.

Copyright

Copyright - James Arthur - Impossible

In this post, I will be using screenshots of an email that the group have sent to SyCo in order to get permission to use James Arthur's song - Impossible.

This is essential to the rest of our project as we need this permission in order for our video to be legal and stay on youtube without SyCo executives removing due it to the fact we do not have permission to use a copyrighted song.

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time. Generally, it is "the right to copy", but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may financially benefit from it, and other related rights. It is a form of intellectual property (like the patent, the trademark, and the trade secret) applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete.

This is the email that I sent to SyCo Productions. We received no reply from the company, however this still shows that we did attempt to get in touch with them. We have asked for permission, and we have not simply just used it. We will be sure to put a disclaimer in the description of our video if/when it is uploaded, explaining the copyright and that the music does not belong to us.

Individual magazine advert designs - Magazine advert analysis 1

What conventions are you going to include and why?

GIven the genre of music we are focusing on, and the production we have created in the music video, our advert would not benefit from bright, 'in your face themes'. I feel sticking to conventions of being subtle and keeping colours darker will be more effective in order to represent the disconnections of the artist to the rest of the world. Keeping the same conventions to the genre is key, as we need to realte the digipak, video, and advert. I feel having the artist facing away from the camera also helps represent the disconnection from the audience, and the isolation that is clearly represented through the performance parts of the music video. Placing the guitar on the back of the artist I feel helps also humanise him, and also keeps the audience aware that there is a focus placed on the musicianship throughout the album, giving him more areas to sell records, as he may be commended more by critics if it is more obvious that he plays the songs himself, rather than a computer creating the songs like most of the current pop charts.

The writing on the advert is also very subtle. As seen on adverts for genre's such as dance or techno, many different florescent are used, but this is not a convention that fits with the 'indy/pop' genre that our artist falls under. Having the name as the biggest writing on the page I feel is necessary, as this is the artists debut album, and people need to recognise the artist rather than just the songs, in order for the artist to be continually successful. The name should hopefully then draw people into the advert, allowing them to take time to make note that the debut album is coming soon, and what it contains.

What are your inspirations behind your design?

A lot of the inspiration for the advert that I came up with comes from much more historical music icons that also feature guitars heavily as part of their artist 'persona'. One of the biggest examples of an inspiration would be that of Johnny Cash. Cash was one of the biggest idols with the guitar, and I feel is a great person to take after when looking at a genre that slightly avoids current trends in the charts, but is still liked. I feel both of these artists created a different pathway to popular music, giving everyone a different outlook on the current state of the music charts/trends, and both of which acted as a 'breath of fresh air' in their respective time periods. Johnny Cash has continued to leave an amazing legacy despite not producing much music in the later stages of his life that would be recognised by younger generations. However I feel this will help reach out to more people within the target audience if they see that he is trying to follow the same pathway that Cash did, by showing that he's serious about music, and trying to change the current music scene.

Cash is the only real example I can find of someone that follows this convention of just the guitar and the artist. However, it fits in with most indy, pop rock, and light rock artists also, as once again it fits the musicianship that is so heavily focused on throughout this albums genre type.


What decisions did you make and why?

I made these decisions as throughout the video, it is clear that the story being depicted shows that the artist now feels cut off, and shows his distance from the rest of the world, as whenever we see any performance elements, he is on his own. This is used well in contrast to the start of the narrative, as originally the narrative shows that he is with his girlfriend, with everything going well, so as the video continues, it works well to show juxtaposition with the two scenarios.

In the video, we also plan to include some complex themes such as the use of fire, and cards in order to connote how the relationship changes throughout the music video. I feel that if we over complicate the poster, things will become too clustered, and we will loose sight of the simplicity that can always be so effective when working on pieces such as this. I feel it would also place too much focus on those uses of iconography when someone sees the advert, and that the iconography should only be used as passing props in the video, not as focal points of the video.

How will this help you with designing your work on photoshop?

I feel that planning this advert on paper helped me to realise that I did not want to over complicate it. Firstly, I feel there should be no background to the picture. It should be a blank white canvas in order to show that he isn't in a relatable public place, he's separated from everyone else.

Secondly I feel we should use a low key lighting effect to it in order to also keep the theme more mysterious, and give it a darker mood. I feel if we were to use natural lighting, it would seem too humanised, we want to create the idea that due to the break up, he has made himself unreachable by anyone else. I feel the lighting can portray this well, as also, a connotation of dark lighting is sadness, angriness or depression, whereas high key lighting would connote happiness or joy, something that does admittedly feature in the video, but is not the key theme.

I also feel the writing on the advert should be minimal, as again too much writing would not fit in with the convention of the music genre we are using. The idea of the photo is that we keep it simplistic, and also the writing needs to be the same. Simple writing giving details is all I feel we need to give information to fans that may be viewing.

Planning Artist Image

An artists image is important in a music video, as this also helps represent the genre they fall into, and also the type of people they may be representing. For example, a male with long, died black hair in a rock band conforms to stereotypes, and represents most people that listen to that genre of music. Another thing that could be important in image is promoting. When promoting an artist, or an artists certain album, often image is a way to get the artist 'out there'. For example, if an artist has a change of direction within the music industry, they may use their image to show how much they have changed. A great example of this is the way that Rhianna changed over the past 5 years from the supposedly 'innocent girl' to the darker more sexual artist she is today. Things such as her video for 'Stay' shows that she may have hit a low point, and created a more depressing song than her usual hits, she also appears naked in the bath, again showing something controversial compared to the artist she was a few years prior to this.

Lady Gaga is another artist that heavily relies on her image, probably more so than anyone else in the music industry in this era. She has created almost another world in which helps sell her songs, as everyone either loves or hates her because of the image she has. She is known widely as a great musician, but none of that matters to the public, as she concentrates on what she wears and how she looks, i.e. the meat dress she wore to an awards ceremony.

Our music video will be Impossible - James Arthur. James Arthur follows the very independent style within the charts and 'pop' music, and therefore dresses and looks slightly different to the rest of the artists that surround him in the charts. This is why throughout the video, our artist will be wearing mainly plaid shirts and jeans. This therefore gives the representation of the artist being relatively normal, as opposed to wearing things too expensive for the general public to wear, and separating the artist from his fans. The girl in our video will wear typical 'girly' clothing, and throughout the happy moments will wear something white in order to connote the innocence and happiness.

The image is conventional to the genre as this is what James Arthur and others like him such as: James Morrison or Plan B would wear/look like, as that's the very independent genre they come from. It's the sort of genre that will also focus heavily on the music, therefore we feel using a guitar throughout our performance parts will be an effective way to help represent our artists image.

Research into James Arthur

James Arthur's career started towards the end of 2012 when he was noticed auditioning for the X factor. Before James Arthur's audition, the programme did a small life story on James. This is where the viewers found that he had a very rough childhood. When James was very young, his parents got divorced and had no sort of relationship throughout his life. This resorted in him getting suspended and excluded from school, and eventually led to living rough on occasion. He said that initially, music was just a coping mechanism in order to deal with the situation of his family. BY auditioning on the X factor, his parents spoke for the first time in the past 20 years, so not only was it good for his career to audition, but it was great for his personal life.

Throughout the X factor, James was the definite favourite, as he had a voice, and a talent to make song adaptations that no one had seen before. He covered many different artists, most of which were girls. He made such good covers of these girl artist songs that no one ever pulled him up for it. The unexpected adaptations he made included  an acoustic version of Tulisa's 'Young' and adding dub step to Adele's 'Hometown Glory'. I believe these skills helped the public and the judges root for him, as he was a new refreshing artist to help represent the show.

Since winning the X Factor in 2012, James Arthur has rather quickly (compared to his predecessors) created and produced an original album through SyCo, the company that signed him as a result of winning the X Factor - part of his £1million winning deal.

The original album has already featured a #1 single in 'You're nobody 'till somebody loves you'. James Arthur has probably claimed the quickest amount of success out of an of the earlier X factor winners, and is now reaping the rewards by being asked to go on many chat show and panel shows, and is often seen attending awards ceremonies with one of his best friends Rita Ora.

One artist that James Arthur can be compared to is James Morrison. Both James Morrison and James Arthur come from the same sort of original sounds, and each bring something unique to the type of guitar/music based chart songs they produce.

In James Morrison's song with Nelly Furtado, A big focus at the start, and at the end sequence with the fire focuses on James Morrison's musicianship, something that is a lost art within the charts now, and something that both Arthur and Morrison seem keen to keep in their videos.

James Arthur still shows the necessity of musicianship in his newest single of the original album as well.

In this video, the first thing we see James walking to is his band, and the majority of the performance in this song is performed on the stage with the band. Close ups on different instruments and musicians also helps to show how James is keen to focus on the musicianship of the song, and how he still wishes to show the different elements in which make up his songs.

Planning setting and iconography

The purpose of settings and iconography in a music video is to help put messages across, and allow to impress ideas upon the viewer. For example, if there is a very isolated setting, it could represent the idea of loneliness and maybe could be used in contrast with a setting full of pedestrians to in order to show the difference. However, settings could also be used against convention, i.e. something that could be commonly used is a setting like Time Square, New York. Someone could clearly be lonely due to body language, however are surrounded by people, but still they are lonely, which is connoted by the fact that they do not have contact with anyone around them.





Iconography also is used to show different connotations. Simple things like lamps can be used to help the lighting in a scene, which then helps represent exactly the mood of the scene, or the situation that a character may be in. For example, someone's partner has just left them, so as they leave, the light/lamp dims, which then shows a darker mood than when she left.

The settings our group plans to use consist of things that relate entirely to theme of our video. They are settings that can be equipped to a setting used for isolation, or again a setting in which a couple could be happy in.
We are going to use a setting that can represent many different things. The setting is the 'White Cliffs of Dover'. We will show some flashback footage here, showing either multiple good memories for a couple here, or simply a great day out. However we will also have performance there as well in order to show the link between the narrative and performance, and how it might represent the split in the relationship. The cliffs are a great setting in order to show isolation. It also gives us space to use the setting in conjunction with lyrics, as the word skyline is used in the song, and this allows us to show the skyline from the 300ft view we will have from the top of the cliffs.

Our setting is conventional the music genre, as again it represents a very 'normal' but effective location. It would be classed as countryside, and very often most chart songs would not include the cold British countryside in their videos, however with the background James Arthur, and other artists like him stem from, we feel this location will be an ideal setting in order to show our music video topic, and also represent the music genre very well.

This will then build a relationship with the target audience as simple things such as someone that likes the artist and the video may ask their parents to take them to the cliffs, and then they can enjoy a day out, whilst also seeking where each shot was filmed. The cliffs are walked like a free public park, with many different walks/paths and things to view available. Seeing as many people visit there everyday, it is definitely a location that can be related to as it is not separated from the general public, and social class does not depict whether you can go on the cliffs either.

Planning Cinematography

- What is the purpose of cinematography
- Include still images to support your points
- What cinematography will you include and why?
- How is your cinematography conventional to your music genre?
- How does it build a relationship with your target audience?

The purpose of cinematography is to help keep a music video flowing, whilst keeping it interesting. If a video was to have an interesting narrative, but only had one camera angle, and barely ever cut throughout the video, it would become boring and tedious. If the same video had many different camera angles, and cut at least every 3 seconds, even the slightest changes could make it that much more captivating for the viewer. Another purpose behind different camera angles, and filming styles is how it can relate to a target audience and draw them in. A clever technique in order to keep the audience interested is by using a hand held, first person camera shot, as it will allow anyone watching it to feel a sense of connection to the video.

Cinematography is also useful when trying to annotate a music video, i.e. it helps show power representation in shots that use high/low angles to show hierarchy between characters on screen.

Panning and static shots can also be very effective, especially when trying to establish a setting. Settings are very important, but will have no effect if they are not portrayed right, and in order to do this, the right camerawork must be used. Static shots are useful in a setting in which the mood may be being set, however panning shots may be more useful when using a slightly destructed setting.



We will use predominantly straight cuts throughout our music video, as we feel these will be the most subtle, and we want the focus to be on the performance and narrative in our music video as opposed to 'fancy' transitions.

The camera angles will consist of many low angle shots. As our video is about deceitfulness, and betrayal, it will show the power balance shifting from scene to scene, so will give us a chance to show the progression of the characters and how much control they may have over each other. We feel the low angle shot may be one of the best ways to represent the idea of power through cinematography. Throughout the performance sections of the video, we will use basic close ups, mid shots and long shots in order to focus on the setting and the artist.

Our cinematography will help the audience relate as it will be using shots that help humanise the characters as much as possible, and will hopefully allow people to understand the situation the characters are in, and empathise.

Michael Jackson

One of the most widely reported pop star lives is that of Michael Jackson. Amongst all the media rumours surrounding his life and death, one of the main topics was the difference from the start of his career, to the end of it. When Michael’s career started, he was part of the Jackson 5, which was exactly what it states, Michael, and 4 of his brothers.

In the first of three videos I am looking at, Michael appears as a very innocent young teenager. The song 'Ben' is about a pet rat, and how they are both searching for a friend. This shows again such a level of innocence which connotes that his career at this young stage was not at all influenced by the media, but yet more working from the 'cute' point of view. In the video, we can see simple things such as the bright green, yellow and red colours on stage also help annotate the child-like theme that the Jackson's were so clearly trying to promote with Michael. It is also shown that Michael is not yet his own act, he is simply performing as 'part' of the Jackson 5, therefore his songs are probably also influenced by the others with him being at such a young age. The last thing to show how young he is in this video is his voice, it’s clear it still hasn't quite broken, but the talent is obviously already there, as it is so controlled. The only point in the video that shows what time period he is in is the clothes he is wearing. He is wearing an orange jacket with a huge collar, and flares, something that would only be truly accepted in the pop scene at this time period, showing that he has slightly adapted to what the supposed 'look' for a pop star would be.

The second video I looked at is one of the most speculated videos in the history of music. At this point in time, the big concern about Michael Jackson was that his skin colour had now changed completely from black to white, by default making his next hit 'Black or White' a very controversial song. In the video, we see Michael Jackson dancing with many different races of people, trying to extenuate the point of no racism. The difference between this video, and the ‘Ben’ video is remarkable. Whereas before he was simply a little boy, singing a song in normal (time appropriate songs), he was now a full grown man, with his shirt half open. To still use the child theme in his videos to try and help install a sense of innocence back to his music video, making Macaulay Culkin.

In the last Michael Jackson video I will be looking at - You rock my world. Jackson seems to relate this video back to his original style videos once he had become a 'man musician' in his own right. It is clear that in this video, he tries to avoid the focus being on his face, which by now was completely modified by surgery, and was something the media would no doubt be quick to criticise rather than actually focus on the song and the video. 

Though this video was one of the last videos Jackson created, he still tried to create the 'sexy' atmosphere that he had done throughout his career. His signature dance moves are still heavily a part of this video, trying to show that despite all his changes, he still represents the same artist he had been for the past 20 years.

The situations he gets into within this video start to show a sense of foreboding early on in the music video. His shirt colour is red which may connote the idea of 'danger'. Red and black are mysterious, harsh mood colours that are more likely to represent something less happy, so whilst on the hunt for the mysterious girl, the other males that look shifty help represent the mood that is set early by Michael Jackson's clothes.